123 What a shock! Could my father-in-law really be this kind of man?

"Is there a new manuscript from my son-in-law?"

Mother Feng, who had been listening from the kitchen, hurriedly wiped her hands on her apron and followed them out. Could she really let Li Xiaolin, who had come all the way from Shanghai, snatch away a good manuscript right under her own nose? Even if she was a guest from afar, when it came to manuscripts, she was a competitor!

"Jiayou, is this really something Xuemin just wrote?"

"He wrote this much?"

Li Xiaolin took the manuscript Feng Jiayou handed over. Seeing that the fountain pen ink was still wet and that there were several pages, she couldn't help but stare in astonishment.

"Yes! Xuemin said the previous novella wasn't about the 'Reform and Opening-up' theme, so he just conceived this one recently. He finished the opening and wanted you to take a look, Sister Xiaolin!" Feng Jiayou said with shining eyes, though inwardly she was still reminiscing about *Parents' Love*. She had to urge him to write more tonight! Such a good story, depicting her mother and father's love so beautifully—why was he afraid to continue? Could there be some sort of 'heartbreak' waiting in the later chapters? Even if there was, the rebellious Feng Jiayou wanted to see how her man would deliver that blow.

"Then I must take a good look!" Li Xiaolin nodded, then muttered to herself, "Is your Xuemin’s hand speed always this fast? How long has it been? This must be three or four thousand words, right?" She flipped through the pages. They hadn't even been inside for two hours.

"Hehe, Xuemin's speed is decent!" Feng Jiayou said with false modesty, thinking to herself, *You haven't seen anything yet! You truly haven't seen his peak speed—it's terrifyingly impressive.*

Li Xiaolin nodded and stopped talking, focusing entirely on the manuscript.

*Chen Huansheng Enters the City*?

Li Xiaolin glanced at the title, guessing it was about the protagonist's observations after entering the city. But what did this have to do with the Reform and Opening-up? Shouldn't those stories be about bold factory reforms and moving deeds?

"'Funnel-household' Chen Huansheng, today leisurely enters the city."

After reading the first sentence, Li Xiaolin was full of questions. What did 'funnel-household' mean? She didn't ask Feng Jiayou; the author wasn't even out yet. She continued reading with curiosity.

"Just wrote this?" Mother Feng stood nearby, shooting a look at her 'debt-collecting' daughter. Seeing Feng Jiayou nod, she began reading too. Before they knew it, the three women stood outside the courtyard for nearly half an hour, reading the four-thousand-word opening.

"Teacher Gu, what do you think of this manuscript?" Li Xiaolin let out a long breath. Although it was just an opening, it was clearly about the reforms. It depicted the changes in the city through the eyes of a farmer—a 'funnel-household'—and how he worked hard to shed that label. Li Xiaolin finally understood the term: it referred to impoverished rural families who were perpetually in debt, not necessarily in money, but in grain, year after year.

"You only know that I don't have enough grain to eat, but you don't know how much effort I've spent in my life!" The opening captured the hardship of the protagonist. While Li Xiaolin and Mother Feng might not have been as moved—having been sent to factories rather than the countryside—it struck a chord with Feng Jiayou, the former 'educated youth'. They were the ones who never earned enough work points and were constantly short of grain. Many educated youth still owed the brigade hundreds of pounds of grain when they returned to the city. Even Feng Jiayou had owed ninety pounds when she finally left for university. This story touched her deeply, bringing tears to her eyes.

"This manuscript... it's just an opening, what can you tell from it?" Mother Feng rolled up the manuscript casually. "Xiaolin, let’s talk about the manuscript later. Let’s eat first!"

"Teacher Gu, do I sense you're trying to poach this?" Li Xiaolin was sharp. She knew exactly what Mother Feng was doing. This was a representative piece about the reforms, a breakthrough for her son-in-law.

"You girl... it's just an opening. If you think it's good, take it, alright?" Mother Feng felt embarrassed as her intentions were laid bare. She shoved the manuscript back into Li Xiaolin's hands. *Who is poaching whom? You don't know the bitterness of being a mother-in-law!* Her son-in-law had published so many influential pieces, yet not one had been given to her journal. The one time he wrote a 'nuclear bomb' of a story, it was intercepted by Old Wu for *People's Literature*.

"Hehe, Teacher Gu, your son-in-law is so talented, there will be plenty more!" Li Xiaolin happily took the manuscript and retreated into the main room to show her father.

Mother Feng felt a tightness in her chest. *It really is true—he gives to everyone but me!*

"Mom, mom! Xuemin has a big one planned for you!" Feng Jiayou whispered, hugging her mother's arm. "He was going to secretly submit a novella to the Shanghai literary circles, but I read the opening and it was so good, I wouldn't let him send it out. I made him rush this one for you instead. Such a good piece should go to you first, right?"

"Really?" Mother Feng's expression softened.

"Really! Mom, I swear, if you read it, you will be moved to tears!"

"Then let me see it later!"

Cheng Xuemin stood at the window, seeing Feng Jiayou wink at him. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had realized he had offended his mother-in-law by not offering her his work, and thanks to Feng Jiayou's guidance, he had managed to smooth things over.

Inside the main room, Old Ba had finished reading. "Xuemin, this manuscript has a profound theme. I hope you finish it quickly so I can take it back to respond to the propaganda department's directives. We'll publish it in the middle of next month!"

"It will be the opening masterpiece for *Harvest* in 1979!"

"Don't worry, Old Ba, I'll finish it and mail it to you!" Xuemin promised. It was only a 15,000-word short story; he already had 5,000 done. He could finish it by tomorrow morning.

"You can finish it by tonight?" Old Ba choked on his tea, sputtering, "The youth are truly formidable!"

After the meal, as the guests left, Father Feng walked with his son-in-law. "Xuemin, you've turned in quite a bit of 'private money' today, haven't you?"

"Close to three thousand!" Xuemin lamented.

Father Feng was stunned. "Three thousand?!"

"A lot of it is from drawing illustrations for picture books," Xuemin explained.

Father Feng sighed, then slipped something into his hand. "Take this. Don't tell Jiayou or your mother-in-law. It's the reprint royalties for *The Herdsman* and *Factory Director Qiao Takes Office*. Just keep it to yourself."

Xuemin’s eyes widened. "Foreign Exchange Certificates?!"

"Keep it quiet," Father Feng winked. "I understand, I understand!"